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Employment Law

Supreme Court clarifies when cases move to fed court

04/27/2010
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on Feb. 23 that helps clarify when employers can remove a lawsuit from a state court to have it heard in the friendlier confines of federal court. The ruling is good news—especially for large, multistate employers.

Miami-Dade enacts first county ‘wage theft’ law

04/26/2010
Miami-Dade County last month became the first county in the nation to pass a “wage theft” law—and it likely won’t be the last. The ordinance says a wage-theft violation occurs when an employer fails to pay any portion of wages due to an employee. It allows the county to step in to help workers win back pay.

Firing a boss who’s racially insensitive? You can cite ‘poor performance’ as reason

04/23/2010
It often becomes apparent that managers who were supposed to prevent discrimination weren’t doing an effective job. For the good of the company, it’s sometimes necessary to fire those bosses for tolerating discrimination or harassment. And those managers will probably sue, too. Good news: You can cite their attitudes to show they weren’t performing their jobs to your reasonable expectations.

OK to punish employees for disruptive acts–even if done in the context of protesting bias

04/23/2010
Employees are protected from retaliation for opposing discriminatory employer practices. But that doesn’t mean they can voice that opposition in a disruptive or discourteous way.

‘Cold shoulder’ isn’t a hostile environment

04/22/2010
One of the reasons employees can claim sex discrimination is if, according to the EEOC, “verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature … creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.” Employees may believe that the slightest unkind word would constitute a hostile workplace, but courts often will set the bar much higher, as the following ruling shows.

No special treatment needed for pregnant staff

04/22/2010
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act doesn’t guarantee pregnant employees any special treatment in the workplace. It simply says you must treat them “the same as any other temporarily disabled employee.” If your organization doesn’t allow other employees to take leave or be placed in light-duty positions, then pregnant employees aren’t entitled to such privileges either.

Health law amends FLSA to require ‘breastfeeding breaks’

04/21/2010
The new health care reform law includes a little-noticed provision that says employers must now provide “reasonable” unpaid break time and a private location (not a restroom) to allow nursing mothers to express milk.

Supreme Court hears arguments: Are employees’ personal text messages private?

04/20/2010

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in a case that could settle the contentious issue of whether employers have a right to read personal text messages employees send using employer-provided equipment and bandwidth. Based on the Justices’ questions, it doesn’t sound good for the cop who sent racy texts to his wife — and his girlfriend.

Are applicant ‘blacklists’ legal?

04/20/2010

Employers typically don’t want to hire applicants who haven’t succeeded elsewhere. So they sometimes create a blanket “no-hire” rule for applicants who aren’t eligible for rehire by their former employers. Such a policy can give you cover against possible retaliation complaints. But if you’re tempted to draft such a policy, be careful: Make sure you enforce the rule uniformly.

¡Que chiste! Bilingual staffer fired for speaking Spanish

04/20/2010
When Ana Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary for a school district, she never imagined her Spanish fluency would be her downfall. Now that the EEOC has taken up her case, somebody has some explaining to do — in federal court.